Mission Roshni

An initiative focused on eye health for school children.

With the understanding that blindness and visual impairment can limit a child’s learning experience, our Mission Roshni programme focuses on eye-health interventions among school children. Through this programme, we conduct eye screening camps, enable treatment, and raise awareness on the issue among school children in government and government-aided schools. The initiative also trains parents and teachers on eye health-related matters, spectacle usage, and compliance, thereby addressing the issue holistically.

In our experience, the main cause of visual impairment is an uncorrected refractive error. To address this issue, we offer a pair of child-friendly glasses and colorful frames that ensure greater uptake and regular use of these spectacles. In one of our impact studies conducted 3 months after the provision of spectacles, a 94% compliance rate was found in children.

Through this programme, our aim is to reduce inequalities and improve future livelihood and social opportunities. Overall, the programme has helped in bringing about an improvement in the quality of life (91% of children interviewed during the impact assessment mentioned that they were able to see better with spectacles and 83% reported no difficulty in reading from the blackboard.)

Mission Roshni has made great strides and provided interventions for 140,564 students in the year 2019-20.

GROUND STORIES

AN EYE FOR EDUCATION Clouds of apprehension loomed over Indu (name changed), a 16-year-old girl from Devipada, Nashik as she was going to appear for her 10th standard board exams. Her family was completely ignorant of the fact that the exams were just indirect stress for her and the primary cause of her worry was her deteriorating vision in both eyes (Right: 6/12 and left 6/9). Due to this reason, Indu could neither see properly nor study and in addition, she suffered from repeated headaches and pain in eyes. She somehow managed to get her homework done from her friend, but this was just a temporary escape plan.

Being the eldest daughter of the family and a mother-like figure to her 3 younger siblings, she suppressed all her needs in order to provide the best of amenities for her siblings. Her parents spent 6 months away from home as they worked as labourers in sugar-cane farms in Gujarat. Being away from their children for 6 months was the only way they could afford 2 meals for the family. In such tough circumstances, Indu had no option. She neither had money to go a doctor nor the courage to tell anyone.

Luckily, her plight was ready to be resolved with the arrival of an eye screening bus. The team from MFV’s partner hospital - Tulsi Eye Hospital arrived from Nashik for conducting eye check-up. All students in her school were examined and some of them were provided with spectacles; so was Indu. The optometrist offered her a box filled with colourful frames to choose from. Her happiness reached the skies, as she learned that she would be provided this spectacle at no cost. With the use of spectacles, her vision improved significantly (6/6 in both eyes). When asked Indu, how does she feel now, she said,

I can now see better, read better and most importantly feel better.